As I think about the Easter story, I try to imagine what it must have been like for the early disciples to witness Jesus’ death and then discover His empty tomb. The disbelief and then the joy of an encounter with the resurrected Christ!
I had my own encounter with the resurrected Christ shortly after moving to Los Angeles. As I sat in my apartment one day, I suddenly could see into the heavens. In the dark sky was an orb of light and inside that light was a throne. I could see Jesus on that throne and from there He spoke as clearly as if He were in the room, “Do not lose heart, Robyn.” First, my eyes widened in awe of what I was seeing, then my mouth dropped open hearing Jesus speaking to me. Any disbelief that wanted to enter was blocked by the fact that He addressed me by name! 😮🥰
Now whenever I need to hear from Jesus, I look in that same direction, probably much like the way His original disciples continued to stare at the sky after His ascension. I am sure they wanted to continue being able to see Him as I do now. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see too much of Jesus until we join Him in Heaven. Until then, we have to trust and believe that He is with us as He has promised.
This isn’t always easy; we live in a fallen world so the struggle here is real. Like the two on the road to Emmaus, it can be hard to see Jesus in a difficult situation. God will give me little reminders of His presence, or maybe they only seem little during the storms that always seem to threaten. Yet the cross gives us hope.
Why We Have Hope
1. It isn’t what we’ve done, but our faith in what Christ has done, that saves us.
Have you ever felt judged or condemned? I know I have. Thinking that there is anything that we can do about our failures or shortcomings is a hopeless feeling. But learning from Jesus that it isn’t what we have failed at doing, but our belief in what He accomplished on the cross is freeing. It is our faith in His work that saves us. There is no greater reason for hope than that.
The True Cross
The cross is a reminder that Jesus paid the price for our sins. St. Helena is credited with finding fragments of the cross used to crucify Jesus, the True Cross. She is the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. She converted to Christianity because of his influence, then pilgrimaged to the Holy Land in search of the sites and relics associated with His ministry when she discovered it. The churches she built on these landmarks gave Christians places to worship after her son made practicing Christianity legal. An amazing aside, right?
2. We are made new in Christ.
The first thing Satan did after Jesus fasted for 40 days and forty nights in the desert was attack His identity. I suspect he said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God,” to try to cause Jesus to doubt who He is. Or perhaps he wanted to distract Jesus with proving His identity when it is not necessary. And so it is with us. Satan will try to get us to doubt that we are made new in Christ by bringing up the past. But we can rest in the truth that Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross and cleansed us from all unrighteousness with His blood when we put our faith in Him as Lord and Savior.
3. God is always there for us.
When I experience desert seasons like Jesus did, I don’t always recognize that God is behind it. During such difficult times, what I fear the most is that it won’t change. I work to trust God more in this area by keeping my eyes on the Kingdom of God and not on my circumstances in this world. We can place our hope in God’s promise to be an ever present help in times of trouble. God’s provision came in a divine way when He sent angels to minister to Jesus after He spent 40 days in the wilderness and overcame the devil’s temptations. We, therefore, can be confident that God will help us get to where He has asked us to be and that He will provide all that we need, even when we don’t know how.
4. God’s love for us is unconditional.
God’s commitment to us is not based on anything we have done; it is based on His love for us, which is unconditional. Jesus loved us even when we were still sinners. That gives us hope because it demonstrates His devotion to us. As we get to know God and His great love for us, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We can then see that His ways are for our good and better than the world’s.
5. God gives us hope and a future.
It is so good to know that God sees us, and the wrongs we have suffered. We have hope that when we are crucified with Christ, we are also resurrected with Him because that is what His Word teaches us. Sometimes I struggle to believe that I have been rescued, especially in the midst of spiritual war. But then I look back on what Jesus has brought me through and see all that He has protected me from, and know that He has indeed rescued me. I am so thankful for His faithfulness and for His grace. That’s why I love Easter; remembering what He has done and what He is still doing gives me so much hope.
Praying a blessed Easter Season for you and your family! 🕊✝️🤍
